The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking feedback on
proposed regulations to manage public lands. The rule
would broaden existing land-health standards to all of the 245
million acres of land that BLM manages. Currently these
standards are only applicable on federal livestock
grazing allotments. The rule would also designate
conservation as a formal use of public lands along with energy
development, grazing, and recreation.
Under the rule, BLM will identify federal rangelands in need of
restoration work and establish a system to lease public lands for
a fixed period of no more than 10 years to allow the work to be
done.
The rule would allow land users, like energy developers and
mining companies to purchase conservation leases and use them to
offset project impacts as a condition of permit approval. It
would also allow for nongovernment groups to buy these leases and
pay to conduct restoration work on the land.
BLM is requesting feedback on these changes from state and local
governments, and is especially interested in hearing whether
or not state and locals should be eligible for holding
conservation leases.
To learn more about this proposed rule, or to provide comment,
please visit the Conservation
and Landscape Health web page. The public comment
period is open until June 20, 2023.
